A new poll conducted by Japanese public television station NHK shows that approval ratings for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda’s Cabinet have dropped to 23%, the lowest ever. In addition, the disapproval rate for the Cabinet is at an all-time high of 59%. When respondents were asked whom they preferred to be the next Prime Minister, just 16% said they would choose Noda, and only 28% named opposition leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe. Fifty-one percent of respondents said neither. Nuclear power politics will play a significant role in the next general election, expected to happen within the next year.

Officials from Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) said this week that in spite of the government’s recent announcement that it will abolish nuclear power by 2039, it plans to survey fault lines and begin boring tests beneath the Monju fast breeder reactor in Fukui Prefecture, in preparation for restarting the reactor. Nine fault fracture zones surround the plant, one an active fault line just 500 meters from the reactor. The tests were originally ordered by the now-defunct Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), which has been replaced by the NRA. The announcement was made during a presentation to a Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) working group. Performance tests on the reactor will reportedly continue for two to three years before it begins operating at full capacity.

Nuclear Waste Disposal and Cleanup

The Japanese government continues to struggle with the question of where to put vast amounts of radioactive waste left in the aftermath of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The government has agreed to dispose of any waste, ash, and sludge containing more than 8,000 Bq/kg of radioactive cesium, which by law, must be buried. However, local municipalities are responsible for disposing of any ash and sludge below that level, along with other types of waste. In five prefectures, including Fukushima, more than 130,000 tons of waste remains unprocessed because of residents’ concerns about radiation. Fukushima Prefecture alone is storing 70,000 tons of waste; officials in Koriyama City have piled up 8,000 one-ton bags, and have run out of storage space. The issue is expected to snowball, as decontamination efforts across the country ramp up in coming years, producing more and more radioactive waste and soil. (Source: NHK)

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(Unregistered) Beppe
says:

This government is NOT planning to give up nuclear power, not now nor by 2039 (by then I might as well be dead anyways).
This goverment is just ...

This government is NOT planning to give up nuclear power, not now nor by 2039 (by then I might as well be dead anyways).
This goverment is just afraid of being literally wiped out at the next elections if it forces more nuclear restarts down the throat of the Japanese citizens.
Japanese voters better check the stance on nuclear power of their favourite candidate to the parliament in the upcoming elections.

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Jan Haverkamp - Greenpeace
says:

@Mauro, If you have any specific questions, you can send them to me: jan.haverkamp[at]greenpeace.org and I will take care that they reach the right person to answer, whether this will be Christine or someone else.